James Cagney Humphrey Bogart The Roaring Twenties Still

Crime film is a

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

belonging to the

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The ...

, but also include

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as mystery,

suspense Suspense is a state of anxiety or excitement caused by mysteriousness, uncertainty, doubt, or undecidedness. In a narrative work, suspense is the audience's excited anticipation about the plot or conflict (which may be heightened by a viol ...

or noir. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identified crime film as one of eleven super-genres in his

Screenwriters Taxonomy Inspired by the biological classification system of the Linnaean taxonomy, screenwriter Eric R. Williams developed the Screenwriters Taxonomy in 2017 to create a common language of creative collaboration for filmmakers. Williams’ central thesi ...

, claiming that all feature-length

narrative film Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or featur ...

s can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, slice of life, sports, thriller, war and western. Williams identifies drama in a broader category called "film type", mystery and suspense as "macro-genres", and film noir as a "screenwriter's pathway" explaining that these categories are additive rather than exclusionary. ''

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

'' would be an example of a film that is a drama (film type) crime film (super-genre) that is also a noir (pathway) mystery (macro-genre).

Characteristics

The definition of what constitutes a crime film is not straightforward. Criminologist

Nicole Hahn Rafter Nicole Hahn Rafter (1939–2016) was a feminist criminology professor at Northeastern University.Carlos Clarens in his book ''Crime Movies'' (1980), described the crime film as a symbolic representation of criminals, law, and society. Clarens continued that they describe what is culturally and morally abnormal and differ from

thriller films Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

which he wrote as being more concerned with psychological and private situations. Thomas Schatz in ''Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System'' (1981) does not refer to the concept of crime film as a genre, and says that "such seemingly similar "urban crime" formulas" such as the

and detective film were their own unique forms. Thomas Leitch, author of ''Crime Films'' (2004) stated that the crime film presents their defining subject as a crime culture that normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and completely normal. Rafter suggested the best way to skirt complexities of various films that may be defined as crime films as works that focus primarily on crime and its consequences, and that they should be viewed as a category that encompasses a number genres, ranging from caper films, detective films, gangster films, cop and

prison film A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as '' A Man Escaped'', ''Cool Hand Luke'', '' Midnight Express'', ''Brubaker'', '' Esca ...

s and courtroom dramas. She said that like drama and romance film, they are umbrella terms that cover several smaller more coherent groups. The criminal acts in every film in the genre represents a larger critique of either social or institutional order from the perspective of a character or from the film's narrative at large. The films also depend on the audience ambivalence towards crime. Master criminals are portrayed as immoral but glamorous while maverick police officers break the law to capture criminals. Leitch defined this as a critical to the film as the films are about the continual breakdown and re-establishment of borders among criminals, crime solvers and victims, concluding that "this paradox is at the heart of all crime films." Rafter echoed these statements, saying crime films should be defined on the basis of their relationship with society. Leitch writes that crime films reinforce popular social beliefs of their audience, such as

the road to hell is paved with good intentions "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is a proverb or aphorism. Meaning A common meaning of the phrase is that wrongdoings or evil actions are often undertaken with good intentions; or that good intentions, when acted upon, may have ba ...

, the law is above individuals, and that crime does not pay. The genre also generally has endings that confirm the moral absolutes that an innocent victim, a menacing criminal, and detective and their own morals that inspire them by questioning their heroic or pathetic status, their moral authority of the justice system, or by presenting innocent characters who seem guilty and vice versa. Crime films includes all films that focus on any of the three parties to a crime: criminal, victims, and avengers and explores what one party's relation to the other two. This allows the crime film to encompass films as wide as ''

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

'' (1987); caper films like ''

The Asphalt Jungle ''The Asphalt Jungle'' is a 1950 American heist film noir directed and cowritten by John Huston and starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest role ...

'' (1950); and prison films ranging from '' Brute Force'' (1947) to ''

The Shawshank Redemption ''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 American Prison film, prison Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''. The film t ...

'' (1994). Crime films are not definable by their '' mise-en-scene'' such as the

Western film The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...

as they lack both the instantly recognizable or the unique intent of other genres such as

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

films. Leitch and Rafter both write that it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation a crime film. Leitch gave an example that most Westerns from '' The Great Train Robbery'' (1903) to ''

Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by David Webb Peoples. It stars Eastwood as William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after ...

'' (1992) often have narratives about crime and punishment, but are not generally described as crime films. Films with crime-and-punishment themes like '' Winchester 73'' (1950) and '' Rancho Notorious'' (1952) are classified as Westerns rather than crime films because their setting takes precedence over their story. Alain Silver and James Ursini argued in ''A Companion to Crime Fiction'' (2020) that "unquestionably most Western films are crime films" but that their overriding generic identification is different just as crime are different than horror, science fiction and period drama films. Rafter also suggested that Westerns could be considered crime films, but that this perception would only be "muddying conceptual waters."

History

Silent era

The history of the crime film before 1940 follows reflected the changing social attitudes toward crime and criminals. In the first twenty years of the 20th Century, American society was under intense social reform with cities rapidly expanding and leading to social unrest and street crime rising and some people forming criminal gangs. In this early

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

period, criminals were more prominent on film screens than enforcers of the law. Among these early films from the period is

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

's '' The Musketeers of Pig Alley'' (1912) involving a young woman hounded by a mobster known as The Snapper Kid.

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent cinema actor George Walsh. He wa ...

's '' Regeneration'' (1915) was an early feature-length film about a gangster who was saved from a life of crime by a social worker. These two early films and films like

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of var ...

's '' Outside the Law'' (1920) that deal with the world of criminal activity were described by Silver and Ursini as being gangsters "constrained by a strong moral code". Stuart Kaminsky in ''American Film Genres'' (1974) stated that prior to '' Little Caesar'' (1931), gangster characters were in films were essentially romances. European films of the silent era differed radically from the Hollywood productions, reflecting the post-World War I continental culture. Drew Todd wrote that with this, Europeans tended to create darker stories and the audiences of these films were readier to accept these narratives. Several European silent films go much further in exploring the mystique of the criminal figures. These followed the success in France of

Louis Feuillade Louis Feuillade (; 19 February 1873 – 25 February 1925) was a French filmmaker of the silent film, silent era. Between 1906 and 1924, he directed over 630 films. He is primarily known for the crime serial film, serials ''Fantômas (1913 ser ...

's film serial ''

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

'' (1913). The average budget for a Hollywood feature went from $20,000 in 1914 to $300,000 in 1924. Silver and Ursini stated that the earliest crime features were by Austrian ''

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

'' director

Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the Silent film, silent to the Sound film, sound era, during which he worked with mos ...

whose films like ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

'' (1927) eliminated most of the causes for criminal behavior and focused on the criminal perpetrators themselves which would anticipate the popular gangster films of the 1930s.

1930s

The groundwork for the gangster films of the early 1930s were influenced by the early 1920s when cheap wood-pulp paper stocks led to an explosion in mass-market publishing. Newspapers would make folk heroes of bootleggers like

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

, while

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...

like '' Black Mask'' (1920) helped support more highbrow magazines such as ''

The Smart Set ''The Smart Set'' was an American monthly literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Men ...

'' which published stories of hard-edged detetives like Carroll John Daly's Race Williams. The early wave of gangster films borrowed liberally from stories for early Hollywood productions that defined the genre with films like '' Little Caesar'' (1931), ''

The Public Enemy ''The Public Enemy'' (''Enemies of the Public'' in the UK) is a 1931 American pre-Code gangster film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was directed by William A. Wellman, and starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods ...

'' (1931), and '' Scarface'' (1932). In comparison to much earlier films of the silent era, Leitch described the 1930s cycle as turning "the bighearted crook silent films had considered ripe for redemption into a remorseless killer." Hollywood Studio heads were under such constant pressure from public-interest groups to tone down their portrayal of professional criminals that as early as 1931,

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-born American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's ca ...

announced that Warner Bros. would stop producing such films. ''Scarface'' itself was delayed for over a year as its director

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

talked with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America's Production Code Office over the films violence and overtones of incest. A new wave of crime films that began in 1934 were made that had law enforcers as glamorous and as charismatic as the criminals.

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

, director the Bureau of Investigation (renamed the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) in 1935), promoted bigger budgets and wider press for his organization and himself through a well-publicized crusade against such real world gangsters as Machine Gun Kelly,

Pretty Boy Floyd Charles Arthur Floyd (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934), nicknamed Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. He operated in the West and Central states, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. He was s ...

and

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (; June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He commanded the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing twenty-four banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprison ...

. Hoover's fictionalized exploits were glorified in future films such as '' G Men'' (1935). Through the 1930s, American films view of criminals were predominantly glamorized, but as the decade ended, the attitudes Hollywood productions had towards fictional criminals grew less straightforward and more conflicted. In 1935,

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

played Duke Mantee in ''

The Petrified Forest ''The Petrified Forest'' is a 1936 American crime drama film directed by Archie Mayo and based on Robert E. Sherwood's 1934 drama of the same name. The motion picture stars Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay was ...

'' (1936), a role Leitch described as the "first of Hollywood's overtly metaphorical gangsters." Bogart would appear in films in the later thirties: ''

Angels with Dirty Faces ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was wr ...

'' (1938) and '' The Roaring Twenties'' (1939). Unlike actor

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...

, whose appeal as described by Leitch "direct, physical, and extroverted", Bogart characters and acting suggested "depths of worldly disillusionment beneath a crooked shell" and portrayed gangsters who showcased the "romantic mystique of the doomed criminal."

1940s

The 1940s formed an ambivalence toward the criminal heroes. Leitch suggested that this shift was from the decline in high-profile organized crime, partly because of the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and partly because of the well-publicized success of the FBI. Unlike the crime films of the 1930s, the 1940s films were based more on fictional tales with gangsters played by

Paul Muni Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895 – August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor from Chicago. He started his acting career in the Yiddish theater and during the 1930s, he was considered one of ...

in '' Angel on My Shoulder'' (1946) and Cagney in '' White Heat'' (1949) were self-consciously anachronistic. Filmmakers from this period were fleeing Europe due to the rise of Nazism. These directors such as

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German Jewish film director. His career spanned some 40 years, working extensively in the United States and France, as well as in his native country. Though he worked in many genres, he was ...

, and

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

would make crime films in the late 1930s and 1940s that were later described as ''

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

'' by French critics. Several films from 1944 like '' The Woman in the Window'', '' Laura'', ''

Murder, My Sweet ''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The fi ...

'' and ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (novel), novel of the same na ...

'' ushered in this film cycle. These works continued into the mid-1950s. A reaction to ''film noir'' came with films with a more semi-documentary approach pioneered by the thriller ''

The House on 92nd Street ''The House on 92nd Street'' is a 1945 black-and-white American spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The movie, shot mostly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. ''The House on 92nd Street'' was made with the full ...

'' (1945). This led to crime films taking a more realistic approach like '' Kiss of Death'' (1947) and ''

The Naked City ''The Naked City'' (a.k.a. ''Naked City'') is a 1948 American crime procedural produced by Mark Hellinger, directed by Jules Dassin and written by Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald, from a story by Malvin Ward. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, with ...

'' (1948). By the end of the decade, American critics such as Parker Tyler and Robert Warshow regarded Hollywood itself as a stage for repressed American cultural anxieties following World War II. This can be seen in films such as ''Brute Force'', a prison film where the prison is an existential social metaphor for a what Leitch described as a "meaningless, tragically unjust round of activities."

1950s

By 1950, the crime film was following changing attitudes towards the law and the social order that criminals metaphorically reflect while most film were also no more explicitly violent or explicitly sexual than those of 1934. '' White Heat'' (1949) inaugurated a cycle of crime films that would deal with the omnipresent danger of the

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

with its theme of when being threatened with technological nightmares, the main gangster Jody Jarrett fights fire with fire. These themes extended into two other major crime films by bring the issues down from global to the subcultural level: '' The Big Heat'' (1953) and ''

Kiss Me Deadly ''Kiss Me Deadly'' is a 1955 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, and Wesley Addy. It also features Maxine Cooper and Cloris Leachman appearing i ...

'' (1955) which use apocalyptical imagery to indicate danger with the first film which the film persistently links to images of catastrophically uncontrolled power and the "traumatic consequences" of nuclear holocaust and ''Kiss Me Deadly'' literally features an atom bomb waiting in a locker of the Hollywood Athletic Club. ''

'' (1950) consolidated a tendency to define criminal subculture as a mirror of American culture. The cycle of caper films were foreshadowed by films like ''

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

'' (1946) and '' Criss Cross'' (1949) to later examples like '' The Killing'' (1956) and '' Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959). Leitch wrote that these films used the planning and action of a robbery to dramatize the "irreducible unreasonableness of life." The themes of existential despair made these films popular with European filmmakers, who would make their own heist films like ''

Rififi ''Rififi'' () is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste Le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony "le Stéphanois", Carl Möhn ...

'' (1955) and '' Il bidone'' (1955). Filmmakers of the coming

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

movement would expand on these crime films into complex mixtures of nostalgia and critique with later pictures like '' Elevator to the Gallows'' (1958), '' Breathless'' (1960) and '' Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960).

1960s

Following the classical ''noir'' period of 1940 to 1958, a return to the violence of the two previous decades. By 1960, film was losing popularity to television as the mass form of media entertainment. Despite To The crime film countered this by providing material no acceptable for television, first with a higher level of onscreen violence. Films like '' Psycho'' (1960) and '' Black Sunday'' (1960) marked an increase in onscreen violence in film. Prior to these films, violence and gorier scenes were cut in Hammer film productions by the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films A film, also known as a movie ...

or conveyed mostly through narration. Box-office receipts began to grow stronger towards the late 1960s. Hollywood's demise of the Hays Code standards would allow for further violent, risqué and gory films. As college students at the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University demonstrated against racial injustice and the Vietnam, Hollywood generally ignored the war in narratives, with exceptions of film like '' The Green Berets'' (1968). The crime film ''

Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were American outlaws who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, committing a ser ...

'' (1967) revived the gangster film genre and captured the antiestablishment tone and set new standards for onscreen violence in film with its themes of demonizing American institution to attack the moral injustice of draft. This increase of violence was reflected in other crime films such as '' Point Blank'' (1967). Leitch found the growing rage against the establishment spilled into portrayal police themselves with films like ''

Bullitt ''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American action thriller film directed by Peter Yates from a screenplay by Alan Trustman, Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner and based on the 1963 crime novel ''Mute Witness'' by Robert L. Fish. It stars Steve McQueen, Ro ...

'' (1968) about a police officer caught between mob killers and ruthless politicians while '' In the Heat of the Night'' (1967) which called for racial equality and became the first crime film to win an

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

1970s

'' The French Connection'' (1971) dispensed ''Bullitt''s noble hero for the character of

Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle is a fictional character portrayed by actor Gene Hackman in the films '' The French Connection'' (1971) and its sequel, '' French Connection II'' (1975), and by Ed O'Neill in the 1986 television film '' Popeye Doyle'' ...

who Leitch described as a "tireless, brutal, vicious and indifferent" in terms of constraints of the law and his commanding officers. The film won several Academy Awards and was successful in the box office. This was followed in critical and commercial success of ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

'' (1972) which also won a Best Picture Academy Award and performed even better than ''The French Connection'' in the box office. The success of the film and its sequel ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic film, epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cop ...

'' (1974) reinforced the stature of the gangster film genre, which continued into the 1990s with films '' Scarface'' (1983), ''

Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' () is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produced by The Ladd Company, Emb ...

'' (1984), ''

The Untouchables Untouchable or Untouchables may refer to: People * Untouchability, the practice of socially ostracizing a minority group of very low social status * Untouchables, word for the Dalits or Scheduled Castes of India * Untouchables (law enforcement), ...

'' (1987), '' Goodfellas'' (1990) and ''

Donnie Brasco Joseph Dominick Pistone (born September 17, 1939) is an American former FBI special agent who worked undercover as Donnie Brasco between September 1976 and July 1981, as part of an infiltration primarily into the Bonanno crime family under the ...

'' (1997). ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...

'' (1971) create a new form of police film, where

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

's performance as Inspector Callahan which critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

described as an "emotionless hero, who lives and kills as affectlessly as a psychopathic personality." Drew Todd in ''Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society'' described the character as different than films featuring rebellious characters from the 1940s and 1950s, with a character whose anger is directed against the state, mixed with fantasies of vigilante justice. Films like ''Dirty Harry'', ''The French Connection'' and '' Straw Dogs'' (1971) that presented a violent vigilante as a savior. By the mid-1970s, a traditional lead with good looks, brawn and bravery was replaced with characters who Todd described as a "pathological outcast, embittered and impulsively violent." Richard Roundtree 1973

Hollywood productions began courting films produced and marketed by white Americans for the purpose of trying to attract a new audience with

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

film. These films were almost exclusively crime films following the success of '' Shaft'' (1971) which led to studios rushing to follow its popularity with films like '' Super Fly'' (1972), '' Black Caesar'' (1973), '' Coffy'' (1973) and '' The Black Godfather'' (1974) The films were often derivations of earlier films such as '' Cool Breeze'' (1972), a remake of ''The Asphalt Jungle'', ''

Hit Man Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

'' (1972) a remake of ''

Get Carter ''Get Carter'' is a 1971 British gangster film, gangster thriller film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis (write ...

'' (1971), and ''

Black Mama, White Mama ''Black Mama White Mama'', also known as ''Women in Chains'' (US reissue title), ''Hot, Hard and Mean'' (original 1974 UK title) and ''Chained Women'' (1977 UK reissue title), is a 1973 women in prison film directed by Eddie Romero and starri ...

'' (1973) a remake of ''

The Defiant Ones ''The Defiant Ones'' is a 1958 American drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer. The film was adapted by Harold Jacob Smith from the story by Nedrick Young, originally credited as Nathan E. Douglas. It stars Tony Curtis and Sidney ...

'' (1958). The cycle generally slowed down by the mid-1970s. Prison films closely followed the formulas of films of the past while having an increased level of profanity, violence and sex. ''

Cool Hand Luke ''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American Prison film, prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Academy Awards, Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a pri ...

'' (1967) inaugurated the revival and was followed into the 1970s with films like '' Papillon'' (1973), '' Midnight Express'' (1978) and '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979).

1980s and 1990s

When

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

became president in 1980, he ushered in a conservative era. For crime films, this led to various reactions, including political films that critiqued official policies and citizen's political apathy. These included films like '' Missing'' (1982), ''

Silkwood ''Silkwood'' is a 1983 American biographical drama film directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was adapted from the book ''Who Killed Karen Silkwood?'' by ''Ro ...

'' (1983), and '' No Way Out'' (1987). Prison films and courtroom dramas would also be politically charged with films like '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1985) and ''

Cry Freedom ''Cry Freedom'' is a 1987 epic biographical drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. ...

'' (1987). While films about

serial killers A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

existed in earlier films such as '' M'' (1931) and ''

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'' (1960), the 1980s had an emphasis on the serial nature of their crimes with a larger number of films focusing on the repetitive nature of some murders. While many of these films were teen-oriented pictures, they also included films like '' Dressed to Kill'' (1980) and '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986) and continued into the 2000s with films like '' Seven'' (1995), '' Kiss the Girls'' (1997), and ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a black comedy horror novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the First-person narrative, first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, and vain Manhattan investmen ...

'' (2000). In an article by John G. Cawelti titled "''Chinatown'' and Generic Transformations in Recent American Films" (1979), Cawleti noticed a change signaled by films like ''

'' (1974) and '' The Wild Bunch'' (1969) noting that older genres were being transformed through cultivation of nostalgia and a critique of the myths cultivated by their respective genres. Todd found that this found its way into crime films of the 1980s with films that could be labeled as

post-modern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experi ...

, in which he felt that "genres blur, pastiche prevails, and once-fixed ideals, such as time and meaning, are subverted and destabilized". This would apply to the American crime film which began rejecting linear storytelling and distinctions between right and wrong with works from directors like

Brian de Palma Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an Americans, American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the suspense, Crime film, crime, and psychological thriller genres. ...

with ''Dressed to Kill'' and ''Scarface'' and works from The Coen Brothers and

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

whose had Todd described as having "stylized yet gritty and dryly humorous pictures evoking dream states" with films like ''

Blood Simple ''Blood Simple'' is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender ...

'' (1984) and '' Blue Velvet'' (1986) and would continue into the 1990s with films like '' Wild at Heart'' (1990).

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

would continue this trend in the 1990s with films where violence and crime is treated lightly such as ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarant ...

'' (1992), ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

'' (1994) and ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims ...

'' (1994) while Lynch and the Coens would continue with '' Fargo'' (1996) and '' Lost Highway'' (1997). Other directors such as

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...

would continue to more traditional crime films ''Goodfellas'', '' Prince of the City'' (1980), '' Q & A'' (1990), and ''

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

'' (1995). Other trends of the 1990s extended boundaries of crime films, ranging from main characters who were female or

minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

with films like ''

Thelma and Louise Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel '' Thelma''. Although the character was supposed to be Norwegian, it is not a traditional Scandinavian n ...

'' (1991), '' Swoon'' (1991), '' Devil in a Blue Dress'' (1995), '' Bound'' (1996) and '' Dolores Claiborne'' (1996).

Sub-genres

Every genre is a subgenre of a wider genre from whose contexts its own conventions take their meaning, it makes sense to think of the

as both a genre on its own terms and a subgenre of the crime film.

Gangster film

In these films, the gangster and their values have been imbedded through decades of reiteration and revision, generally with a masculine style where an elaboration on a codes of behavior by acts of decisive violence are central concerns. The archetypal gangster film was the Hollywood production '' Little Caesar'' (1931). A moral panic followed the release of the early gangster films following ''Little Caesar'', which led to the 1935 Production Code Administration in 1935 ending its first major cycle. As early as 1939, the traditional gangster was already a nostalgic figure as seen in films like '' The Roaring Twenties'' (1939). American productions about career criminals became possible through the relaxation of the code in the 1950s and its abolition in 1966. While not the only or first gangster film following the fall of the production code, ''

'' (1972) was the most popular and launched a major revival of the style. The film followed the themes of the genres past while adding new emphasis on the intricate world of the mafia and its scale and seriousness that established new parameters for the genre.

Heist film

The heist film, also known as the "big caper" film is a style of crime film that originated from two cinematic precursors: the gangster film and the gentleman thief film. The essential element in these films is the plot concentration on the commission of a single crime of great monetary significance, at least on the surface level. The narratives in these films focus on the heist being wrapped up in the execution of the crime more or at as much as the criminal psychology and are characterized by and emphasis on the crime unfolding often though montage and extended sequences. The genre is sometimes used interchangeable with the term "caper". The term was used for the more dramatic films of the 1950s, while in the 1960s, it had stronger elements of romantic comedy with more playful elements as seen in films like '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1968) and '' Topkapi'' (1964).

Hybrid genres

Leitch described combining genres as problematic. Screenwriter and academic Jule Selbo expanded on this, describing a film described as "crime/

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

" or an "action/crime" or other hybrids was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative. Mark Bould in ''A Companion to Film Noir'' stated that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews and rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine.

Reception

Leitch, stated that the genre has been popular since the dawn of the

sound era A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

of film. Ursini and Silver said that unlike the Western, the horror film, or the war film, the popularity of crime cinema has never waned.

References

Sources

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